STEP BY STEP
-First English “Times Book Club”Edition (Variant Binding)
1939
“Times Book Club” Edition
Thornton Butterworth Ltd. [London]
Biblio: (Cohen A111.1.d) (Woods A45a)
8vo (365 pages, 2 maps, one folding, at rear)
Hardcover (with Dust Jacket) [Black cloth]
Item Number: 208945
$850.00
Collector's Guide
Step by Step is a chilling anthology of Churchill’s prescient newspaper pieces about the rising Nazi threat, written for the Evening Standard and Daily Telegraph, commencing in 1936 with Hitler’s reoccupation of the Rhineland, through the final months before the declaration of war in 1939.
Description
This is a very good copy of the rarely-seen [London] “Times Book Club” edition, which came out simultaneously with the First English edition, bound from First Edition sheets, somewhat reduced in size, though. Surprisingly, bibliographer Ronald Cohen seems to have missed this edition altogether, which is a rarity unto itself.
The black cloth here would appear to be a variant binding. We also have a copy of this Times Book Club edition bound in green cloth that appears to have precedence (see item #208909). The half-title page is omitted in this copy and the spine type reads: “W.S. Churchill.” as opposed to “Winston S. Churchill” as it appears on the green cloth version and most other Times Book Club titles. The book is also approximately 1/4-inch shorter than the green version.
The black cloth here is fresh but there is some staining to the rear board. The contents are fine; the pages just a touch browned. There is a homily bookplate on the front pastedown and the trademark tiny Times Book Club inkstamp on the rear pastedown.